I love reading your posts, Carrie. Very interesting reading.

I initially tried the hand feeding when my Collie was a puppy,
but found I just didn't have the patience to keep that up.
So I'd have him sit for a couple of morsels, then just give him
the whole bowl, which then quickly dissolved into, just putting
the bowl down, forgetting to even make him sit.

I also found I don't have enough of a organized personality
to consistently eat something myself right before I put the food
bowl out. And then am also bad about not picking the bowl
back up after a sufficient time, if there's food still in the bowl.

What I do do and am very consistent about, is having all 3
of my dogs sit patiently and quietly, while I'm eating something
tasty and then giving them each a very small bite of what's
left. They don't get something everytime. Maybe 60% of the
time. Not sure if this is significant enough gesture to send the
message to them that I'm alpha. Hopefully it does. I've not had
any aggression problems with either of the three towards me or
other people, but the two Cairns are dog aggressive. I kind of
excuse that as a breed trait and not enough socialization to
other dogs as puppies, but maybe that's a sign that they don't
view me as completely in charge.

Par...